Now Showing
A week into Color & Form… revisiting the little structure posted 7/6/24
People ask me about the little wooden house structure that’s been populating my work the past 4 years. There are many things I could say about it, but the gist is this. Difficult events in my personal life were causing a dry spell in the studio, then the pandemic hit. During the shutdown the decrepit little playhouse in my backyard kept asserting itself visually, making itself seen from wherever I was. It stepped onto my canvas and walked me back into my studio.
As I have noted before, the little structure became a sort of beacon in the woods for me at that time. A vessel holding memory, grief, hope and other investments of feeling. The various moods of the structure paintings have been inspired by Nature’s disposition and my own, as well as that of the human world.
So my portrayals can range pretty wildly. The little place feels like a moody being to me. Sometimes whimsical or playful, others sorrowful, sad or haunted. Many times just there in the world, looking out…
This latest batch will be at Hillsborough Gallery of Arts through July 21, 2024.
Color Built, 2024 30″ x 30″
The color freak is back… Color & Form at Hillsborough Gallery posted 6/19/24
Okay. So maybe the color freak never left…
COLOR AND FORM is going up in just a few days and will be open to the public on Tuesday, June 25. I’ll have 10 new paintings, 5 of them hot off the press. My mom passed away in May and all of April and most of May was spent with her. So I’ve been catching up.
It only takes a glance at my work to realize I am a color freak. As such, it wasn’t hard for me to work towards this theme. The little structure in the woods is still lingering about, but it’s getting dominated in many cases. The COLOR has taken over.
In looking for thread to follow for this new work the word swath kept coming to mind. As in, swath of color. So, swaths, swatches, dabs and drops, color lines or color building blocks… Some of the paintings are more straight up, others really get lost in the color.
I’m also breaking way out of the square format that I love so much with some very rectangular pieces. Ceramicist Evelyn Ward and jeweler Nell Chandler are showing their wonderful work with me.
Bluster, 2024 48″ x 24″
Scatter, 2024 20″ x 24″
Spectacle, 2024 18″ x 36″
September 2023: Reciprocus at Hillsborough Gallery meant to post Sept 2023! 6/19/24
Reciprocus is Latin for the concept of give and take. My work for this show continues my focus on the little structure in the woods. The title inspired this one. A bit of a dark look at the idea of give and take. I’m not a religious person, but the words, The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away, kept circling in my head. Here are a couple of the works in the show.
Reciprocus, 2023 40″ x 40″
A Tale of Love and Sorrow, 2023 30″ x 30″
A Year of Transitions at Hillsborough Gallery of Arts posted 8/12/23
I did some research this morning and got some numbers: 54 people have been member/owners of Hillsborough Gallery over the years. It’s humbling to look at some of the fantastic artists that have been a part of this group. This year saw some big changes with long-time members Lolette Guthrie and Alice Levinson leaving. Losing 2 of our major matriarchs is hard! Stacy Crabill is off to greener pastures as well. It’s so sad to say farewell to these amazing artists!
The consolation prize is the new members who come in. This year Ryann Carey, Catharine Carter and Ellie Snow. (Another Ellie!) Take a look.
Ryann Carey – Water color (Sunrise):
Catharine Carter – Mixed Media Photo Collage (Wishful Thinking):
Ellie Snow – Painting (Montrose Poppies):
Last Week of The Story… posted 3/19/23
Hillsborough Gallery artists have absorbed the exquisite poetry of Jaki Shelton Green, the North Carolina Poet Laureate, and each come up with a visual art response. Some works speak to specific poems. My piece is more general, particularly to some of her earlier work in Conjure Blues, one part of the collection we read. She gave a powerful reading at the gallery on March 12.
The painting I had envisioned didn’t come to fruition, so I switched gears and found my way with a mixed media wall installation called Organizing Force. (In case you’re curious, it’s comprised of an old box, small gourds and trumpet vine seed pods – some of my favorite things!)
I drew many things from Ms. Green’s collection, breath of the song. One was a sense of striving, of trying to break free of bonds or out of boundaries. Another was a recurring vision of the twin aspects of history/HerStory–both the burden and blessing. Whether the history in question was personal or otherwise, whether it lifted up or pushed down, it felt like an organizing force.
The show comes down next weekend, so visit now! Hillsborough Gallery of Arts
Organizing Force, 2023 by Ellie Reinhold
Out of the Woods at Hillsborough Gallery of Arts August, 2022
Here’s a sneak peak of some of the new work. Large and small, dark and light. Hope to see you at the opening!
Shelter Graphic paint sketches, 10″ x 10″ each:
Dark Heart, 2022 36″ x 36″
Spring Shelter, 2022 30″ x 30″
UnMuted at Hillsborough Gallery Sept 21… posted 9/16/21
Paintings by myself and Marcy Lansman and felted creatures by Lynn Wartski will be featured in the new exhibit at Hillsborough Gallery of Arts. The show will be up at the gallery on Tuesday the 21st and online on the 24th at noon.
Nine of my ten new paintings for UnMuted build on a body of work begun last year. The pieces comprise a lengthy visual riff featuring a small wooden play structure in woods behind my house.
Jostled by a shift of studio venue, the strange isolation of the pandemic, and other more personal losses, my creative focus shifted in early 2020 to images of this little building among the trees. The structure persists as the “main character” in my otherwise un-peopled series.
Opening Reception on Friday, September 24 6-9pm. (COVID protections are in place, and masks provided.)
Afternoon Presence, 2021 36″ x 36″
Trio, 2021 30″ x 30″
Structure in Lifting Fog, 2021 30″ x 30″
Gallery In Full Swing for the Holidays… posted 11/19/19
Come by Hillsborough Gallery of Arts for a art gift or an handmade ornament for a friend or yourself. Or just enjoy the exhibit.
Full Circle posted 6/29/19
This month and through July 21 I’ll have 10 new paintings up at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts. This featured exhibit, Full Circle, includes metal sculpture by Jason Smith and paintings by Linda Carmel. My work in the show includes several pieces focused on color explorations (with circles and trees) and others that are a more straight up approaches to landscape. Here are a couple of examples.
Trees In Moss and Rose, 2019 20″ x 24″
Winter Lunch, 2019 30″ x 30″ (SOLD)
Other Dimensions posted 2/22/19
In the early to mid 90’s my artistic focus was mixed media installation, but painting has dominated since. I’m coming full circle this winter with a couple of mixed media wall installation pieces for two themed shows. This month’s special group exhibit at Hillsborough Gallery of Arts (HGA) is called Other Dimensions. The theme here is to have the artists tackle a dimension they don’t normally work in. For example, the painters, normally a creating in 2 dimensions, have created works in 3 dimensions. The sculptors have moved from 3D to 2D by creating a wall work. Some artists cross over on a regular basis. They got to choose either.
Last month HGA had it’s annual All About The Story exhibit. Our chosen local author was Elizabeth Keckly, a former slave at the Burwell School, located just up Churton Street from the gallery. Her memoir, Behind the Scenes, or, Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years In The Whitehouse, was published in 1868. This is the first time the gallery has chosen a deceased author, and so the author reading hosted by the gallery was a little different. We invited, in conjunction with the Burwell School, William L. Andrews, author of Slavery and Class in the American South. Dr. Andrews, an expert in slave narratives, spoke about slave narratives generally and Keckly’s book in particular. It was fascinating.
Both pieces are in the gallery through March 24, 2019… unless someone comes into the gallery and takes them home!
Hemmed In, Hemmed Out, 2019 Mixed Media (SOLD)
Latest… posted 10/29/18
Check out Studio Tour details and links below. It takes place November 3 & 4 and 10 & 11. Saturdays 10-5, Sundays 12-5.
My newest work, hot off the press…
Fall Anchored, 18 x 18, 2018 (SOLD)
Open Studio Tour Is Almost Here! posted 10/28/18
I hope you can visit my studio at 1210 Roosevelt Dr, Chapel Hill, to see some of my new paintings! I’ll have selected cards and prints as well, including of Rose Hill (scroll below), one of my new works from earlier this year.
The Orange County Artists Guild Annual Studio Tour takes place this coming weekend and next, November 3 & 4 and 10 & 11, Saturdays 10-5, Sundays 12-5. Look for the yellow signs. The tour is self-guided, free and fun!
[Google Maps alert: it won’t take you directly to my studio, but to the edge of the lot my studio is on. Don’t worry though, I’ll put a sign there to bring you in!]
There are Preview Shows in two locations, Hillsborough and Chapel Hill, which each feature a sample artwork from each artist participating in the tour (with perhaps a couple of exceptions). Great places to make your tour game plan. Here are some links to help you along. Lots of links!
If you’re a newbie, there’s a fine video giving you an introduction to the tour on the OCAG website.
OCAG Tour Brochure (32 page PDF, includes map)
OCAG Tour Map Only (1 page PDF)
Hillsborough Gallery of Arts Preview Show
FRANK Community Gallery Preview Show (University Place) You can still catch the opening reception this Thursday, November 1, from 6-9.
OCAG Spring Show At University Place is Up posted 5/8/18
The Orange County Artists Guild is having a spring exhibit at the FRANK satellite gallery at University Place (the mall formerly known as University Mall, on Estes Drive and 15-501 business in Chapel Hill).
Hope you can attend the opening reception this Friday from 6-9 as part of the 2nd Friday Art Walk in Chapel Hill. You can see what’s new at Frank’s main gallery as well, just down the mall.
Trees By Three has been installed at the gallery! posted 4/23/18
Can’t wait to see you at the Opening Reception at Hillsborough Gallery of Arts, and Last Friday Art Walk in Hillsborough on Friday, April 27th! The event lasts from 6-9pm, but the gallery’s open all day if you’d like to come early. I’m loving the way Susan Hope’s mosaics, Larry Favorite’s inlaid ironwood and my paintings are all speaking to each other.
I was working in the studio up to the last minute at the gallery. Here’s the final piece I’ve made for the show. Just finished it up last Sunday.
Rose Hill, 2018 20″ x 20″
Trees By Three Opening at Hillsborough Gallery of Arts posted 4/16/18
In a mere week I’ll be installing about a dozen new paintings at Hillsborough Gallery of Arts.
Trees By Three will feature three artists. Each of us, in turn, feature trees in our art. Susan Hope works with fused glass, Larry Favorite turquoise inlaid wood, and then there’s me, Ellie, still painting.
The Opening Reception is Friday, April 27, 2018 from 6-9. We hope to see you there!
It’s the first Last Friday Art Walk of the season, so all the town-sponsored events will be in play. There will be music on the courthouse lawn and lots to see. Hillsborough will be hopping!
Here’s a sample of what’s in store...
Autumn Pocket, 2018 30″ x 30″
# 60 on the 2017 Open Studio Tour posted 11/3/17
Time to get out your maps and go explore! Over 80 artists will be participating. Most have samples in the Preview Shows at FRANK and Hillsborough Gallery. Brochures can be found at those venues and many places around town, or find all the info you need on the web at the Tour Page for the Orange County Artist’s Guild.
Come by to visit and see my work from Geometrees–if you missed it, except the 4 that sold!–and my new crop of small pieces.
Here are a couple of those smaller works:
Horizons 8X8, no. 6, 2017 (8″ x 8″)
Autumn Hill, 2017 (20″20″) Note: the piece below is at Hillsborough Gallery preview show
Don’t fret, you can still see Geometrees posted 9/19/17
The reception was great fun. Thank you all for coming! A few pieces, including Fall Strut, below, found homes to go to after the show comes down. They always feel loved when that happens.
Don’t fret if you missed the reception. Maybe if you knock on the office door at the Community Church of Chapel Hill, they’ll unlock the sanctuary so you can see the work, but best bet is to contact me and I’ll arrange a viewing. Anytime between now and October 31.
Artists Love a Crowd!
I hope you can attend the reception–the ONLY PUBLIC VIEWING–of my solo exhibit, GEOMETREES, 3-5pm on September 17, 2017.
Here’s the most recent painting for the show, just finished up this week. Show is installed this Saturday, and we all celebrate at the opening 9 days from then. Please stop by and say hello!
Ellie
Fall Strut, 2017 20″ x 20″
Dates are in place for GEOMETREES Exhibit: 3-5pm on September 17, 2017
In a few short weeks I hope you can come to the opening of my solo exhibit, 17 new paintings and several older ones, in the sanctuary at the Community Church of Chapel Hill, at 106 Purefoy Road. See their page about my pending show.
The show is up for 2 months, September 9 – October 31, but only open to the public for the reception. I would love to see you there!
If you are Jonesing for a viewing and can’t attend the opening, it’s possible to see the show by appointment. Contact me about that and I can make it happen!
In addition to the piece in previous post, here is another you’ll see:
Chartreuse Windows, 2017, 40″ x 40″
The Next BIG Thing… Posted May 30, 2017
I’m gearing up for my exhibit at the Community Church of Chapel Hill in their large and beautiful sanctuary. Though the show will be up for two months, the only official time to see it will be the opening reception (date and time TBA). Here’s a sneak preview of one of the large works I’ve completed.
The title of this piece is Plum Windows; the size 48″ x 48″.
Link to My HGA Blog Post about Parallel Play Posted May 2, 2017
My recent missive for the Hillsborough Gallery blog has been posted. If you look for it later, scroll down and down! Here is the the link
The show is up! Posted April 24, 2017
Hope you can come to the opening; this Friday, April 28, 6-9pm. Details in previous post, below.
Parallel Play… new work now virtually available! Posted April 18, 2017
I’ve just added a dozen new works to my website. They are the first 12 images on the front page. On Sunday/Monday the 23rd, 24th of April the actual work will go into the gallery. See below for details of the show…
Parallel Play, at Hillsborough Gallery Upcoming Featured Artist Exhibit, April 24-May 21 Posted March 30, 2017
Tonight you can come out to see the latest from Arianna Bara, Michael Salemi, and Eduardo Lapetina at HGA’s Last Friday Opening Reception.
In a short month I put up my new work, along with the sculpture of Jason Smith and Evelyn Ward‘s ceramics. It’ll be a fine and varied show. You can get a peek below of a couple of my new pieces. We look forward to seeing you at the opening on April 28, 6-9, at Hillsborough Gallery. It will be Hillsborough’s first Last Friday Art Walk of the season, with outdoor music, vendors and a number of galleries to visit. Should be hopping!
Partly Cloudy, 2017 (30″ x 30″)
Stepping Out, 2017 (12″ x 12″)
All About The Story, 2017 Edition Posted February 24, 2017
Hillsborough Gallery of Arts, located in a writers mecca, hosts an annual Story show. Gallery artists choose a local author and invite them to choose a book for the gallery artists to riff on. We invited Jean Claude Bemis, and worked from his book for older children, Out of Abaton, a re-imagining of the Pinocchio tale. The opening was lovely last night, and there is still plenty of time to catch the show.
Jean Claude (I don’t know if people use his middle name generally) will be doing a public reading from his book on Sunday March 5 from 4-6pm as well.
While I have done paintings for the last several Story shows, this one called me to an assemblage. Here’s a peek…
The Tour has ended… posted November 13, 2016
It was lovely to meet so many new people and welcome all the returning visitors on the Studio Tour. If you missed it, you’ll be able to see some of the new work at Hillsborough Gallery after tomorrow… Thank you for coming out!
OCAG Open Studio Tour, 2016 posted October 25, 2016
Well, Speed Art was fun (see below), but I’ll be glad to simply host you in my studio for the 2016 OCAG Studio Tour in November.
Be forewarned that Google Maps will take you close, but not exactly to my studio. While you can see the house through the woods, to approach it you’ll want to head up the hill to the driveway. It’s on the paved part of the road and heads into the center of the block. My street number is not in order with the others. Look for the orange tour signs and balloons and you can’t go wrong.
Here’s a look at a couple of the new pieces you’ll see if you can come.
Sunset Windows, 2016 (36 x 36)
Three of a Perfect Pair, 2016 (18 x 18)
Speed Art! Posted September 26, 2016
The 2nd annual Transatlantic Exhibition of Art in the South East (T.E.A.S.E.) will be blowing through on October 5. I’m honored to have been chosen as the local Triangle representative to augment this traveling group of German and Southeastern artists for their downtown Durham stop.
You can find out a little more about the Zeitgeist Foundation and this years artists at their website.
Find us on October 5, from 6-8pm in Durham’s 21c Museum Hotel:
111 N. Corcoron Street
Durham, NC
919-956-6700
Hillsborough Gallery Show Installed June 20, 2016
The new work is now at the gallery, a dozen new paintings. I got in a pretty good grove by the end of my time in the studio, finishing up with three of the strongest (and largest) pieces in the show. Nice note to pause on.
I hope all can come by the opening on Friday, June 24, 6-9. Here’s the Hillsborough Gallery link for information. The feature show includes ceramics by Evelyn Ward and collages by Pat Merriman. Pat is the singular person who lit the spark for this gallery a decade ago, and it’s her 80th birthday on our opening. Cause for celebration!
Here is one of those recent paintings…
Forest Totem, 2016 (36″ x 48″)
Tasty Morsel May 22, 2016
I told Elijah the other day I was excited about a small painting I had finished for my show in June. I said my excitement manifested in a gustatory way; I left the studio with the feeling that I wanted to eat that painting! It was luscious and delicious looking. It made me feel like salivating. He couldn’t comprehend this, but it was the best way I could come up with to describe the feeling.
Maybe other painters would know what I was talking about? Here’s a rough shot of the painting...
Show goes up on June 20… just a month away.
Fast Approaching April 25, 2016
I have a feature show coming up quickly–it hangs on June 20 at HGA. Coming up a little too quickly from the studio perspective, but I do have a few pieces complete and others underway. The show it titled Grounded. My thoughts have not quite verbalized on it yet, so at this point I don’t have a lot to say. Working from the right side for now. Here is one of the new pieces, titled Sun Shards.
In this other new piece I’ve eschewed the circles (to which I have been addicted) and traded them in for rectangles…
February, 2016
March 4, 2016 is time to come out to Top of the Hill’s Great Room! The gala art event Through Women’s Eyes, a wonderful annual fundraiser by the Compass Center for Women and Families takes place from 7 to 10pm. If you buy a Golden Ticket, you can come at 6 and be special.
I won’t be able to be there, but my painting Spring Garland, below, will be among the donated artworks offered at the auction. You can also bid on work by Barbara Tyroler, Elaine O’Neil, Alice May and Chieko Murasugi. The show will also feature 5″ x 7″ mini masterpieces, pottery and jewelry bu many more women artists. Fun and a very worthy cause, bundled as one.
Here is a link to the Compass Center that will tell you all about the show.
October, 2015
Now that I’ve dispensed with conjuring winter in July (see below), I’m gearing up for fall. Here’s one of the paintings I’ll have available at the OCAG Studio Tour. Mark your calendar– first 2 full weekends in November, the 7 + 8 and 14 + 15.
July 18, 2015
I don’t know if it’s some sort of solace I’m seeking this summer, but somehow in my sweltering studio (no A/C), I have been compelled by winter and fall photographs to work on COLD pictures. These paintings will be at my studio for the OCAG Open Studio Tour in chilly November, so maybe it’s a good time to seek this particular relief.
Snow, fall foliage, bare trees. Ahhh…
Structure in Fog, 2015
First Snow, June 2015
April 3, 2015
Uncharted runs through Sunday, April 19th. Leave us a message in the comment book if you come by, we’d love to know you were there. Watch the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts blog for comments from each of us about the work in the exhibit. I’ve just posted my thoughts…
March 23, 2015
Uncharted is installed! It’s the perfect exhibit for Spring, so if it snows this weekend (maybe that’s just a rumor, but it’s what I heard) you can come in the gallery and get a little respite among the artworks. The exhibit runs through April 19.
Don’t forget to come to the opening this Friday, March 27, from 6-9. Ali, Nell and I would all love to see you there.
Read a little about the show in our press release. More about my work for the show is below… scroll down… and down some more.
City Grid, 2015
March 1, 2015
Three short weeks from now I’ll have my newest work installed in the three-person exhibit, Uncharted, at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts. I still have a lot to do, but ‘hot off the press’ is good, right? I can’t wait to see what treasures my cohorts, Ali Givens and Nell Chandler, will bring and how we’ll work out the puzzle of putting it all together.
Our Opening Reception is the 27 of March, 2015, from 6 to 9. Save the date and come on out, if you live close enough! Winter here will surely be over by then.
The pieces I have slated for this show are, for the most part, derived from the Abstract/Landscape series I’ve been running with for the past 5 years or so (parallel to my figurative work, such as Fledge, below.) Scroll down further to see and read a little about my starting point and how I’m working on our theme, “uncharted”.
If you stop by Hillsborough Gallery earlier in the month you can see the current featured show, It’s All About The Story, an annual collaboration with a local Hillsborough author. This year gallery artists have drawn inspiration from Lee Smith’s short story collection, Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger. Lee will be reading from her stories on Sunday, March 8th, 4 – 6pm. Arrive early! It’s bound to be well attended and space is limited.
Also at the gallery currently is my piece Fledge, which builds on my house series from earlier last year that was featured in the show Dwell (April, 2014).
Fledge, 2014:
Recent Obsessions: In the fall I spent some time playing with texture, trying, within the confines posed by acrylics, to achieve a surface I could love. Egg shapes kept spontaneously cropping up amidst my experimentations. Here are a few of the results. (My son Elijah and I had a little fun with titles one night.)
An Original Egg, or… Egg Dreaming of Being a Red Potato, 2014:
Percolate, or… Inner Thoughts of Egg, 2014 (sold):
Big Ag Egg, 2014:
Hinden-egg, 2014 (sold):
Egg On Legs, 2014 (sold):
Textural exploration brought some new approaches to the surface, and to unexpected content as well (eggs!). Then my contribution to a group exhibit with “the circle” as theme took the eggs from my canvases and domesticated them, so to speak. Finally, my domesticated eggs got to work as I considered the theme, “uncharted”. As far as working to the theme goes, I believe my toddler brain must have kicked in. For the life of me, I couldn’t stop obsessing on the opposite of the theme: charting and graphing. The “un” would simply not stick.
As I mentioned above, these works stem from my landscape series. Now you might ask, what have uncharted, domesticated eggs got to do with landscape? Fair question. Have you ever considered how a bubble color chart of a fall forest might look? That’s what I ran with…
Come out to the show and see what else turns up!
Fall Forest Grid, 2015: